Page 10 - EW November 2024

Editorial

25TH ANNIV CALL FOR COMMON CAUSE curriculums and ways and means to
provide holistic education and skills
training are being debated in numer-
wenty-five years of uninterrupt- vestment of Rs.25 lakh by Dr. Ramdas ous forums countrywide. Moreover,
ed publication is a major mile- Pai and Glenn Christo of MEMG (Ma- the annual EducationWorld India
Tstone for any news and views nipal Education & Medical Group). School Rankings (EWISR, estb.2007)
publication. Therefore, a measure of Curiously, none of the captains of has evolved into the world’s largest
congratulations to EducationWorld India Inc who had benefited might- schools ranking survey and generated
editors and marketing personnel who ily from economic liberalisation and widespread awareness about balanced,
have laboured beyond call of duty to deregulation consented to purchase comprehensive K-12 education. Like-
keep this publication alive is justified. equity in this enterprise. Dismayingly wise, EW’s consistent advocacy of ear-
When EW was launched on the eve they didn’t understand — and still ly childhood and skills education has
of the new millennium with the mis- don’t — that if India’s huge human ensured their inclusion in the National
sion “to build the pressure of public resource is properly educated and Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
opinion to make education the #1 skilled, their enterprises will become However, there is no room for
item on the national agenda”, the in- more productive and profitable. It’s a complacency. Contemporary India’s
difference, and often hostility, that we severe indictment of India Inc’s lead- children and youth — 500 million are
encountered from our target publics ers that this publication was saved below 24 years of age — are severely
— education policy formulators, aca- from bankruptcy by Los Angeles- neglected and under-educated. On
demics, teachers, parents and indus- based angel investors Lowell and Mike this occasion of our Silver Jubilee, we
try — took us by surprise. Especially Milken who purchased equity valued invite all our publics — politicians,
since your editor had established at $250,000 in this venture. Your bureaucrats, academics, principals,
a good reputation in society as the publisher-editor and Indian society industry leaders, parents and students
founder-editor of India’s first-ever owe a huge debt to them. — to shed all prejudice and make com-
business magazines which prepared Because since then over the past mon cause with us to accord top prior-
the ground and catalysed the historic 25 years EW has succeeded in mov- ity to providing QEFA (quality educa-
economic liberalisation reforms of ing education at least halfway up the tion for all) in quick time. This is the
1991. EW was kept afloat in the initial national development agenda. For essential pre-condition of national
years by family support and early in- the first time, syllabuses, pedagogies, development.

TIME TO REDRAW SETTLED BORDERS cals industries are heavily dependent
upon imports from China.
In the circumstances with PRC
he recent thaw in sino-india most two centuries of British rule. having emerged as a global hub of so-
relations following a bilateral Foot-dragging on the issue of nego- phisticated manufactures and inter-
Tmeeting between Prime Min- tiating a settled border by the Nehru mediates required by Indian industry,
ister Modi and China President Xi administration in Delhi resulted in military posturing and muscle flexing
Jinping on the sidelines of the XVI the 1962 limited (32 days) Sino-India along our 4,000-km border is not in
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China border war in which India was roundly the national interest. It’s important
and South Africa) summit held in Ka- thrashed. China’s PLA could have an- to acknowledge that Sino-India bor-
zan (Russia) last month, is an overdue nexed Assam and large areas of the der boundaries were drawn by British
and welcome development that au- north-east but voluntarily withdrew Empire officials with notorious repu-
gurs well for both neighbour nations north of Tawang. Since then, Sino-In- tation for forcibly imposing arbitrary
to smoke the peace pipe. This rap- dia harmony and cultural exchanges border lines all over the world. Post-
prochement which comes four years that had endured for millennia have independence, India’s Congress party
after the bloody clash in the Pangong been in a shambles. leadership made a major judgemental
Valley in May 2020, imposes some Paradoxically, trade ties between error by insisting upon the sanctity of
pressure on Beijing and New Delhi to our two countries have remained Sino-India border lines unilaterally
resume serious parleys at highest lev- strong and are growing stronger. drawn by British imperialists.
els of government. China (PRC) is India’s largest for- It’s pertinent to note that since 1949
As has often been advanced on this eign trade partner. Sino-India foreign when China declared itself an inde-
page, a lasting and durable peace be- trade aggregated $118.39 billion in pendent republic, PRC has negotiated
tween the two world’s most populous 2023-24 with the trade balance heav- mutually accepted boundaries with six
neighbouring countries is a matter of ily skewed in favour of PRC. Imports countries, including Pakistan. There-
highest priority, not only for our coun- from China were valued at $101 bil- fore, this is an opportune moment
tries, but also for a stable global order. lion whereas our exports were valued to drop the talk-but-don’t-negotiate
The issue of unsettled border lines in at $16.65 billion. Despite curbs im- border policy and enter into bona fide
Aksai Chin in the north-west and Tibet posed on direct Chinese investment parleys with our neighbour nation and
in the north-east has been hanging fire in selective goods and services, Sino- redraw our boundary lines in a genu-
since China declared itself a commu- Indian bilateral trade is booming. It’s ine spirit of give and take, so that gov-
nist republic in 1949, two years after no secret that the electronics, telecom, ernment focus is on national develop-
India attained independence from al- computer, pharmaceutical and chemi- ment instead of arms and armament.

10 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024